Sickness, Death, and Survival in the Works of Gu Ding and Xiao Hong

Abstract

This chapter examines how Chinese intellectuals of contrasting political agendas reacted to Manchukuo’s biopolitical regime within literary works. Gu Ding, who worked closely with the Japanese, regarded imperialism as a means of salvation for a sick China, while Xiao Hong, who opposed imperialism, treated the Japanese as just another disease inflicting the body politic. Although clear differences emerge in Gu and Xiao Hong’s perceptions of imperialism, comparisons of their works reveal similarities in depicting the socially constructed nature of sickness. In Gu’s story, the Japanese manufacture the terror caused by epidemic disease, while in Xiao Hong’s text, a village community's power holders define illness. Sickness may emerge naturally, but as revealed in literary narratives, its identification becomes an arena for political, economical, and social conflicts.